Russian Country

I got this because I was missing my Russian tea from the Covent Tea Garden. It smells smoky in the tin but not overwhelmingly so.

There is a bit of lapsang blended in this tea. It has a slightly smoky flavor but is very slight so it reminds me of the Scottish Breakfast blend from Peet’s I like so much. This is an easy one to drink plain. I am finding it smooth and mellow with not a lot of astringency. It’s true this tea is a bit on the lighter side so I might try a 5 or 6 minute steep next time. I found it very enjoyable, nice for the morning time. I wonder what else is in here, someone mentioned keemun perhaps. It isn’t as sweet or intense as the Baker Street Blend or Hu Kwa for sure, but whatever it is, I like it…

I used to not be a fan of smoky teas at all, I guess they are growing on me a bit. I do find the lapsang blends to be less intimidating than a straight lapsang.

Update: I did try this with soymik and I don’t recommend it that way, seems a lot better plain.

Sipdown no. 30 of the year 2014.

Revisiting the delights of tea after some time away feels in some ways like being a tea virgin all over again. I remember the first time I encountered smoky tea and was blown away that tea could taste like that.

I’m getting flashbacks to that experience drinking this. This is an easy smoky tea to drink. It’s mild in its smokiness and not resiny or piney, but still enough to make you think of walking through the neighborhood while folks have wood fires burning in their fireplaces. I tend to drink smoky teas when its overcast and rainy for this reason, but I’m enjoying this one just fine on a sunny, warm-ish day.

Special Thanks to Amy Oh for this one – I got your envelop today! Thanks so much!

This smells like a gentle LS. I agree with Amy Oh on this completely!
With the gentle LS – it seems to be paired with something else…like…maybe, a Breakfast Tea…Scottish or English, maybe…or something slightly bakey-cakey, even…not sure.

I like the mystery, tho.

And this is tasty. I like it! It’s satisfying without being overly smoke.

1.5 tsp for 300mL water @100C, steeped six minutes 30 seconds, drunk bare.

Yep, lost track of time again. The tea did not get bitter. It did get POTENT. I am very awake right now. Holy snappin caffeine kick.

Excellent blend of black teas with lapsing souchong. Smoky, but not overpoweringly smoky. A big leap from India black tea. I can see this one becoming a favourite.

Backlog:

A really good blend that has just the right level of smokiness for me. I don’t generally like a heavy smoky tone … I have come around to enjoying an occasional Lapsang Souchong now and then but I don’t really consider them a favorite, and I find that I prefer it when I find a tea like this one, that utilizes Lapsang Souchong as part of a blend so that the smokiness is subdued.

This is flavorful and satisfying … a nice cup for first thing in the morning. Brightly flavored with nice caramel undertones and that lovely wisp of smoke.

This is quite a pleasant smoke blend. I don’t know if it’s just that I’m a plebe or what, but I’ve noticed most of the smoky blends I’ve tried since joining Steepster all please me (provided I’m in the mood for smokiness) in pretty much the same way, to roughly the same degree. It’s as if the smokiness takes care of any concerns about smoothness, astringency, bitterness, body, etc.; perhaps it’s just that the tea types used as the foundation to make smoky blends (lapsang souchong and keemun usually) tend to have qualities aside from that (medium-thick bodies, a sort of vanilla/chocolate-y thing underlining everything) that sit well with me. Whatever it is, anything more nuanced than the musty SMOKESMOKESMOKE one dimensional over-the-top feels-like-the-whole-tea-table-must-be-covered-in-soot lapsangs we drank at Crumpets years ago seems to get my approval. This is no exception. I have a big tin specially labeled for my “decent afternoon smoke break” teas—it’s got bits and bobs from lots of places: Upton Imports, Della Terra, New Mexico Tea Company, Harney and Sons, Lupicia, Samovar—and I like them all just about the same, where they’re interchangeable to me when that’s what I want. This will do nicely in that collection, one of the best of the lot, as compulsively drinkable as Upton’s Baker Street. It’s got that subtly sweet, choc-vanilla undercurrent I love and associate with keemuns, and the smoke is definitely present but it’s warm and gentle, not acrid or musty. The ashy quality of lapsang only comes out full strength in the aftertaste, and it’s kind of nice if you like that sort of thing because you’ve been primed by the sweet warmth at the front of the sip.

I keep saying it but I really appreciate Harney’s vast “strong black tea blends” collection and how impressively decent-to-great they are given there’s about a billion of them. They do a great job catering to legacy-style morning tea tastes but sourced and blended to be flavorful, smooth, balanced, and lovely.

nooooooo my note just got erased :(

bullet points!
- i love lapsang blends when i feel like drinking a lapsang blend
- this is an uber drinkable lapsang blend. it has poetry.
- meaning it makes me wanna read a book and tuck the quilt under the bottom of my feet to keep the heat in. this tea is like the honesty of paper.
- so glad i decided to order it.

This is in my cupboard thanks to DOULTON. :)

I wanted something with a little body and heft today since we are having our first chilly weather. Youngest is joining me at tea table so I chose a Lapsang, since she really enjoys them, which blows my mind. Kids like Lapsangs?

This is good and I am enjoying it. It was a little thin for me so I added milk and a wee sprinkle of sugar. Now it is quite good. The tea base is better, in my opinion, in Baker Street Blend by Upton, or perhaps it is just more flavorful, but it has a chewy, pipe tobacco quality that is quite engaging. When I repurchase my Lapsang, it will almost certainly be Baker Street. ( Which was also thanks to DOULTON!)

This is a good smooth tasty tea, but I think it could use just a little more lapsang souchong in it. Thats just my tastes though, I like smoky tea. It is an enjoyable tea and I could drink it everyday.

Hmmm…I can taste the keemun and lapsang most distinctly. The pinewood forest campfire flavor is tempered by freshly baked biscuits. Yum….smoky biscuits! :)

There is a refreshing tang of astringency with each sip. Not bitter but tannic, in a good way—“brisk”.

Russian Country can be considered the “gateway” to much bolder teas. Or a lapsang blend for the uninitiated. The smokiness is there but its boldness is tamed by the other yummy black teas.

Interesting…but not too complex—pretty good choice for a lazy weekend!